Newsletter – June 2005

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President’s Prattle

Once again our illustrious editor has prompted me to start banging away at my keyboard and produce another President’s Prattle.

Obviously I should start where I left off last time to report on a rather splendid long weekend in Scotland when we had a great time and got out onto the hill on all four days. I suppose yours truly got the first lob of the year in when the snow caved away under his feet as we started up “The Slant” which resulted in Johnboy Buchan being “pulled off” (his words not mine). We spent the rest of the time walking and indeed wading in snow on the last day as we went for a walk near our bunkhouse (?) in Newtonmore! So enjoyable was that day that we barely made it to the Airport in time! Lesson learnt on this weekend, apart from not moving together on an icy traverse, was to ignore the weather forecasts and to actually go onto the hill – you can always turn back if it is really is bad!

Shortly after that was Easter and the IMC was spread far and wide with the official party in North Wales (thanks Ian Thurgood for organizing that) and a bunch of splitters in the Peak! Some folk had some good days climbing whilst I concentrated on walking having had me jaw well and truly massacred by some surgeons at the hospital a couple of days beforehand. Boy did I whimper when Guy looked at the drugs I was taking and suggested I shouldn’t drink!

In fact, we seem to be doing the “splitters” thing quite well this year as on the Mayday Bank Holiday weekend the official IMC Party was doing great things in Pembroke (thanks Martin Hore) whilst the splitters were in North Wales as Louise and I gate-crashed Mike Bayley’s little soiree in the “Pass”. Similarly, for Whitsun the official IMC party diverted from the Lake District to Northumberland enjoying the pleasures of the local sandstone which I thoroughly recommend (especially Simonside which has an impressive aspect and some good climbs to boot) whilst the splitters were in the Lake District and indeed in North Wales.

Fortunately, there were no splitters on the Beginners Meet weekend (if there were I would stay low if I was you!) organized once again by Dave Tonks when the weather was unexpectedly good (though not warm). From what I could tell the beginners seemed to have enjoyed themselves, especially for some with the added “attraction” of the “Rave on Millstone.” My thanks go out not only to Dave but also to all of you who offered your services to teach the newcomers! On the learning front a party of eight also went to Plas y Brenin to take advantage of their “Advanced Ropework for Climbers Course” which I would heartily recommend to any climber wishing to expand their climbing knowledge and experience.

As you can see there has been a lot of activity already this year and there is plenty to come. Special mention must go to the Hospital Abseil and the All-comers Meet both of which take place in July. As usual Dave Tonks is looking for volunteers to help out in whatever capacity be it at the top instructing (or as I prefer to call it dropping the abseilers) or helping put harnesses on the abseilers. Even if you can only spare a couple of hours please come along and help out. I say it every year; I find it a thoroughly rewarding day persuading and cajoling (in the nicest possible way) people to do thoroughly unnatural things (remember I hate abseiling) in the interests of charity! And it is good for the reputation of the club to support such events.

This might be a suitable occasion to remind you that Martin Hore is organizing an “All-comers Meet” in North Wales. The intention of this event is to give less experienced IMC members a chance to try some of the classic multi-pitch rock climbing in the company of more experienced members. I would ask that all the experienced multi-pitch climbers put this date in their diary and volunteer their services to Martin.

I think that is all for now. Remember that if you want to get away on the “free” weekend please send an email out around the club to see if anyone else wants to join in the fun and also sharpen those pens or oil the keyboard and write about it. Most importantly enjoy it and stay safe!

Cheers

El Presidente

Editor’s Erratum

The newsletter is in constant flux: starting with this issue we see the end of the Word format in all its chunkiness, also I think we will begin to see a fluctuating size. I have been in the enviable position thus far of receiving a fair number of submissions after each call: I kept one back from the first for use in the next edition, just in case; then you people were so good to me that I was able to do the same again the following time, and now you have exceeded yourselves in both quality and quantity. Out of respect for the authors and all their hard work, and with topicality in mind (most articles are about trips, happenings or just plain epics from the preceding three months), I have made the decision to include all submissions each time. Hopefully the possibility of a thin issue is only something I see in my darkest moments, but for this time we have a bumper edition. And talk about variety: we have fire (well bloomin’ hot) and we have ice; we have ‘getting out of trouble’ and we have ‘getting into trouble’. This all just shows what a varied and talented bunch you are.

As with all editorial decisions please let me know if you have any feelings one way or the other.

Please note that we have a published author amongst us; some of you may already have seen Fraser’s by-line in such publications as Trail, TGO, Canoe and Kayak UK, but here he is for all of us to enjoy.

The deadline for the next edition is Friday 9th September.

e-mail to: guy@falconhurst.com or post to:

Guy Reid, Falconhurst, 27, Bath Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk IP11 7JN.

 

Articles

This months articles can be seen on separate webpages by clicking the following links. For other articles see the articles index.

Name that Route

Route 1

Route 2

 

Poetry Corner

Not poetry this time but some nice songs brought to my attention by Mike Bayley. (Thinks-If I could have a pound for every time an IMC member hums one of these tunes over the next few weeks, this time next year I’d be a millionaire.)

‘The Toproper Song’

(sung to tune of Monty Python’s ‘The Lumberjack Song’)

I’m a toproper, and I’m okay.
I cheat up climbs that I’ll lead one day.

(He’s a toproper, and he’s okay.
He cheats up climbs that he’ll lead one day)

I set up my rope. I chalk my hands.
I romp up some E3.
On Sundays I’m at Stanage
Where there’s thousands just like me.

(He sets up his rope. He chalks his hands.
He romps up some E3.
On Sundays he’s at Stanage
Where there’s thousands just like he)

(He’s a toproper, and he’s okay.
He cheats up climbs that he’ll lead one day)

I climbed with ease some bold blank wall
That took some tw*t 5 hours.
No time for all that faffin’
With nuts and Rocks and wires

(He climbed with ease some bold blank wall
That took some tw*t five hours
No time for all that faffin’
With nuts and Rocks and wires)

(He’s a toproper, and he’s okay.
He cheats up climbs that he’ll lead one day)

I shout ‘Take in!’. I like it tight
Suspended in mid air
Oh I wish I had some bollocks
Just like those chaps who dare

(He’s a toproper and he’s okay.
He cheats up climbs that he’ll lead one day)

(He’s a toproper, and he’s okaaaaay.
He cheats up climbs that he’ll lead one day)

And representing the ‘Toproper and Proud of It Party’ …

He isn’t Clever, He’s a Tosser

(sung to the tune of The Hollies’ ‘He ain’t Heavy, He’s my Brother’)

The route is long
His muscles begin to burn
The mind that chose to dare led him there
To his end
Tho’ they’re strong
His ethics cannot carry him
He’s ain’t clever, he’s just smugger

So down he falls
His welfare’s not my concern
Why spurn the bolt that’s there
I don’t care
For I know
He thought he was better than me
He ain’t clever, he’s a tosser

If I’m saddened at all
I’m saddened at the madness
That filled his heart with risk
Rather than with the gladness
Of his toproping brother.

It’s a long, long fall
No tight rope to shorten it
While he’s on the way to care
I’ll get a rope up there
And the route
Doesn’t freak me out at all
I ain’t better, but I’m safer

From The Secretary

All enquiries and correspondence should be directed to the Secretary.

Mervyn Lamacraft,
11 St Georges Road,
Felixstowe,
IP11 9PL

Tel: 01394 277050 or send email to mervynlamacraft@hotmail.com.

Membership

As of 12 March membership stands at 82 (13 new members) for 2005.

The club has been registered with the BMC for 2005. Our BMC membership provides Civil Liability insurance with a £5M indemnity limit in respect of any claim. Note that this insurance does not give Personal Accident Disability Cover. Any IMC member who wishes to upgrade their BMC membership from ‘Group’ to ‘Full’ can do so at a discount rate of £13.50 (instead of £27.50).

Members who joined/renewed by 21 February should receive a personal copy of Summit 37, AGM papers and Annual Report direct from the BMC.

The IMC email and membership contact list was modified at the beginning of April to include 2005 members only. These lists will be updated about monthly thereafter.

Youth Hostel Association (YHA) group membership

The IMC has group membership of the Youth Hostel Association. The relevant information on the membership card, held by the IMC club secretary, is as follows:

Name: Ipswich Mountaineering Club
Membership No: 018-7653317
Category: Group
Expires end: Sept 05.

This enables us to use the 230 Youth Hostels in England and Wales, and the network of 4,500 Youth Hostels in 60 countries worldwide that display the Hostelling International sign. You can also enjoy exclusive offers and discounts on key attractions, receive discounts on Youth Hostel visits at selected times of the year and receive free mailings of Groups Away and YHA newsletters.

 

The Committee

For a list of committee members, see the contacts page

 

IMC 2005 Photography Competition

During our successful Winter 2002 competition forty photographs were submitted, all of which have subsequently been used to give our club’s webpage a unique colour and style.

We are running the competition again during 2005 and currently have 20 entries, which can be seen at www.ipswich-m-c.co.uk/photos.htm

To enter your photographs in the competition send them to Simon Chandler by any means. Email attachments can be sent to simon.chandler@physics.org, or you can use post for prints, slides, CDs, floppy disks, etc. The postal address is:

S Chandler, Martlet House, Sandy Lane, Barham, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP6 0PB.

Prints will be scanned by Simon immediately then returned to the contributor ASAP. Slides will take a bit longer to return because I have to borrow the equipment.

Full details can be seen at http://www.ipswich-m-c.co.uk/photos.htm, but in summary it works like this. Every IMC member can submit three photos (with captions and explanations). These can be from any date and can be of anything that is relevant to IMC activities – climbing walking, skiing, drinking, landscapes, action shots, etc. As soon as I receive them the photos will be displayed anonymously on our website for everyone to view. Once there are enough entries – or at the end of 2005 – members of the IMC will be invited to vote for their favourite photo using an online form, and the winner will be the most popular entry. As in 2002, the winner will receive a prize generously donated by Action Outdoors.

The competition is open to all IMC members, committee included, since voting will be by all members and the photographer’s name will be kept anonymous at the time of voting.

So please, dig out your favourite photos and send them to me.

Regards, Simon

IMC Webpage News

Hopefully I have now fixed the problems that some of our members have had with accessing the IMC website and mailing list via NTL or AOL web providers. This was solved by switching to a new web hosting company, wiserhosting.com. The new hosts are much more responsive to requests for technical help, and make efforts to stop their sites being blacklisted by AOL (spit!). I certainly recommend them. As an added bonus we now have twice as much space on the new web server for your photos, so newsletter articles can be even more photo-filled. One downside of the change, however, is that I’ve not had time to get the message board or chatrooms working on the new site. In fact, these services were not used a great deal – our members preferring to use the mailing list for all types of communication – so I won’t be ‘turning on’ these little-used services unless any of you ask me to do so.

When I get time I plan to add an enhanced photo gallery (and slideshow) that pulls together the photos from all the different articles we’ve published over the last few years. If you’ve got any other ideas for improvements to the IMC website, please send me an email and I’ll see what I can do.

 

Diary Dates

See our Club Meets page for up-to-date details.

This scheduled list is suggested as a framework for meets in the coming months and to help get dates into your diaries; however, we are looking for volunteers to co-ordinate some of the events and for ideas of where people would like to go. Please contact the meets coordinator if you are interested in helping to organise any of the above or to make suggestions for future meets.

Please note that we have deliberately reduced the number of scheduled meets because in the light of recent experience some Meets did not take place possibly because the venue did not appear attractive. The Committee suggests that if anybody fancies going away on a weekend which does not feature a “Formal Meet” then that person should e-mail around the club (using members@ipswich-m-c.co.uk) asking if anyone is interested in going away on a particular weekend. It is probable that there would be interest because there are fewer scheduled Meets. Naturally choosing the venue is the prerogative of the individual initiating the process. Cheers, Peter K.

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